Shop Windows to the Universe

This animation shows Mars during a "close" and a "far" opposition. An opposition can occur anywhere along the orbit of Mars; these views show the two most extreme cases.
Click on image for full size Windows to the Universe original artwork by Randy M. Russell

Related links:

Mars Opposition in August 2003News story originally written on August 7, 2003

On August 27, 2003, Earth and Mars will be closer together than they have been in thousands of years. Mars will pass within 55,758,006 kilometers (34,646,418 miles) from Earth. Astronomers have calculated that the last time Earth and Mars were closer together was nearly 60,000 years ago! The last people to get a closer look at Mars than this were Neanderthals!

Earth moves around the Sun more quickly than Mars. Every 26 months, Earth "laps" Mars on "the inside lane". When Earth passes Mars, astronomers call the event an "opposition". During an opposition, the Sun, Earth, and Mars form a straight line with Earth in the middle. Viewed from Earth, Mars is on the opposite side of the sky from the Sun. Opposition is the time in each 26-month cycle when Mars and Earth are closest together.

The distance between Earth and Mars is not always the same at opposition. The orbit of Mars is an oval, not a circle. Earth can be closer or further from Mars at opposition, depending on where in Mars's orbit the Red Planet is when Earth passes it. This time around the two planets get really, really close together! Since Mars will be so close during this opposition, it will be very bright in the sky and will look larger than usual through a telescope.

How big of a deal is this? Not that big, actually. Mars will only be a little closer, a little brighter, and will look just a little larger than during other "close" oppositions. If you look at Mars in the sky, it will still be just a dot... but a very bright dot! If you get a chance to look at Mars through a telescope, it will seem a tiny bit larger than at any other time during your life. However, you have probably seen pictures of Mars taken by spacecraft. Those pictures show a lot more detail than we will ever see from Earth.

Opportunities

You might also be interested in:

The Martian climate is more influenced by the shape of the Martian orbit than the climate of the Earth is influenced by the shape of the Earth's orbit. The orbit of Mars is more oval-shaped than that...more

The planet Mars is closer to Earth than normal right now. On October 30, 2005, the two planets will be very close to each other. They will be about 69 million km (43 million miles) apart. Mars will look...more

Astronomers have discovered twelve new moons of Jupiter so far in 2003. Jupiter now has a total of 52 moons that we know of. Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System, has more moons than any other...more

On August 27, 2003, Earth and Mars will be closer together than they have been in thousands of years. Mars will pass within 55,758,006 kilometers (34,646,418 miles) from Earth. Astronomers have calculated...more

Astronomers have recently discovered nine new moons. The astronomers found eight new moons of Jupiter and one new moon of Saturn. We now know of 60 moons orbiting Jupiter and 31 orbiting Saturn. The new...more

The planet Mercury appeared to cross in front of the Sun on May 7, 2003. Astronomers call the event a transit. A transit is like a solar eclipse. However, a transit occurs when a planet, instead of Earth's...more

Two very large groups of sunspots have appeared on the Sun. Each of the groups is about as big as the planet Jupiter, which is the largest planet in our Solar System! Sunspots are places on the Sun where...more

Astronomers have identified another exoplanet, that is, a planet outside our solar system. This makes a total of 102 exoplanets that have so far been found by astronomers! The astronomers that identified...more